Day 29 | 40-Day Lenten Fast & Devotional

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. -1 Peter 5:5-6

Good morning, good morning, grace and peace be unto all of you, my Father's children. It is Monday, day 29 of our 40-day Lenten devotional. As we continue in this vein and fashion, I would like us to focus this week upon the subject matter of humility. So our scripture comes from 1 Peter, the fifth chapter. I'm going to look at the fifth and the sixth verse. Likewise, you younger people. Submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another  and be clothed with humility for God resists the proud  but gives grace to the humble. Verse six,  therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

This scripture actually piggybacks on last week's notion of patience, but also talks about a level  of  humility that's to be observed in order for us to be  placed in proper position. An interesting piece I find in verse number seven, that  you may  be exalted in due time. So many of us at a place and point where we are afraid of either not getting credit or not receiving the accolades for our actions, find ourselves in position to want to exalt ourselves. We will push forward to the front of the line for whatever reason, because we believe that somehow we may be slighted or not given the due accolades for what we do. Here's the problem. Humility forces us to be in a position ultimately put ourselves second or even sometimes last as it relates to giving our own honor. Since you'll be exalted in due time, so many of us can feel as though our outside surroundings having given us the credit proper for what we're doing, for how we're acting, for what we have spared.  And this comes with a level of arrogance that believes that  we ought to be exalted.

God says, I'm the only person that needs to be exalted. However, understand this, I see everything. Have you ever felt the position as though God  kind of missed you or forgot about you  or  doesn't see what you're doing?  All these attributes are absolutely false when it comes to Christ.  God says, listen, I'm going to be doing the exalting.  And here's the thing, if you allow God to be the one to exalt you, you'll never find yourself without honor. It's when we attempt to usurp or get ahead of the Father and our movements, our actions, that we find ourselves on the short end of the stick. These are basic instructions that Paul wanted to give to the church in Philippi as they move forward by faith and grace. These are instructions that we can follow, echo even ourselves today because this walk is full of us finding our position to give God the glory,  not to give ourselves glory, not to exonerate ourselves, not to lift ourselves up. Oftentimes, the true level of grace is embedded in our ability to give God glory,  even in places where we attempt to give it to ourselves. And the truth is, nobody and nothing can give you a more solidified place than Christ himself.

So as we continue to travail through this piece, God calls us to walk in humility. God calls us to seek no gratification and for edification from the others, especially not from the world,  because he's the one that does the adding. Always remember. And I like how it opens up, it starts off as  younger people submit yourselves to your elders.  Every now and again, you just got to realize  someone else has been there before and it will be wise for you to even accept not only the fact that they've been there before, but also that there's a level of grace in how you approach and how you receive. Don't miss your blessing trying to be above and beyond  places you haven't gone yet.

Be humble. Have an incredible Monday. I can't wait to talk to you again on tomorrow. God bless you.